End and Beginning
by ffdrake
Summary: This story takes place after the end of FF9. How hard would you fight for the love of your life? Garnet will soon discover the answer to this question as he fights for Zidane against new enemies and old. Rated for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Final Fantasy does not belong to me, although I often wished that it did.**

**Chapter 1:**

Zidane stood on one of the many balconies in the Alexandrian Castle and gazed over the city. The sun was just starting to rise beyond the horizon, setting the sky on fire. Hearing a slight moan from behind him he turned to see Garnet slowly sit up in bed. "What are you doing up at this hour Zidane?"

Smiling he walked over to the bed, sitting on the bed he placed his arms around her and gazed into her eyes. "I am use to getting up before sun rise remember?"

She placed her hands on his face, slowly running them all over. "I cannot believe that you are actually here. You were gone for so long that I was afraid that you were truly dead."

"Not a chance, I promised to come back to you didn't I? I never break my word Dagger."

He had just gotten back to Alexandria the night before, making his spectacular return. In truth he was sad to have missed two years of her life, but now he was back with her, everything was right again. After the celebration party last night they had come back to her room, he was ready for her to prevent him from coming in, but instead she grabbed his belt and pulled him into the room with her. Nothing had really happened that night, just kissing, and a lot of it. Mostly it seemed she just wanted to make sure that he was with her, that he was real.

Leaning in he placed a soft kiss on her lips. He thought to make it a light gentle kiss, but his little queen had different ideas. Wrapping her arms around his neck she griped him like a vise and roughly pushed him down onto the bed. _This is unexpected from her_ he thought, _but I am certainly not going to go against it at all._ It took him only a moment and he was returning her kiss with equal passion.

After several minutes, or maybe hours, of her on top kissing him, he gently rolled her over. Pausing to catch his breath he still could not help but wonder how he had gotten this lucky. Like always Dagger caught onto the slight distress that was going through his mind. "What is wrong Zidane?" She asked.

"Nothing Dagger, just wondering how on Gaia I got this lucky. To have the most beautiful woman in the world next to me in bed."

"It is because you are you Zidane," she answered him, "you are a caring person, you help everyone you can, you even risked your life to save someone who tried to kill you. You do not change for anyone, and that is what I love most about you Zidane."

Did he just hear what he thought he did? Did she just say she loved him? Did he love her? The answer to all of these questions was the same. Yes. Lowering himself to her again he kissed her. "I love you too Garent, my Dagger, my love."

Saying this brought a radiant smile to her face, and she started to pull his lips back down to hers. Just as their lips touch a loud knock sounded on her door. "My Queen, are you decent?" The surprisingly gentle voice of Beatrix carried through the door.

Zidane had no idea that he could actually move as fast as he did when he heard that voice. In a flash both him and Dagger where out of bed and scrabbling to put something decent on. Once they both had on robes they quickly sat at the small table in her room and Dagger told Beatrix that it was alright to enter.

The General strolled into the room; her eyes scanned everything until it came to rest on the two teenagers sitting at the table. "My Queen, you are have been requested at the audience hall. It appears that all of your suitors are quite curious as to this latest turn of events."

Zidane lifted his eyebrows and looked at Garnet. "Suitors Dagger?"

Garnet blushed lightly. "Send them away Beatrix. There will be no more suitors, and if any of them have a problem with it, then they can come and talk to me personally about it. It just may take them a few days of waiting until I can see them."

The general smiled at her queen. "As you wish my queen, is there anything else that you desire?"

"Yes there is. Please go down to the kitchen and let the kitchen staff know that I would like a lunch prepared for me and Zidane. We are going to be eating our lunch outside after a walk."

The general bowed. "Very well your majesty, I will go down to the kitchen that you wish for a picnic to be prepared."

After the general left, Zidane turned to his queen. "So Dagger, where are we going on this picnic? I, unfortunately, do not know of any good picnic locations in this area, now if we were in Lindinblum I could show you some of the most beautiful places around."

The young queen blushed and went up too her love. "I was thinking Zidane, that there is this nice view outside of the city near the cemetery. You can see the castle and the city, plus this early in the morning the sun should still be rising over the city."

Zidane smiled and put his arms around her shoulders. "That sounds like a very good idea my queen."

Dagger smiled up at him, and leaned in close bringing her lips almost to his. "How many times do I have to tell you? It is Dagger to you." And with that he lowered his face the last inch and kissed her.

To say that Duke Theo was upset would be an understatement. First his future wife goes off and jumps into the arms of some commoner, but now he was awoken early for some meeting that was apparently called by General Beatrix. The only good thing about this was perhaps he could get some answers. Theo was of noble upbringing, more so than any other suitors. He was born and raised here in Alexandria by one of the most powerful noble families in Alexandria. He was truly the only one suited for her hand.

He had been courting the young queen for a year now, ever since she had gotten back from her little trip, wherever that was. Some said that she went on some quest to save the world, but he highly doubted that. Walking into the audience chamber he discovered that most of the suitors that had been trying to get her hand in marriage. Of course he was the only one in this group who stood any chance.

Waiting with the others he was starting to grow impatient. Right before he was about to leave though the General showed up. "Gentlemen, thank you for taking time to see me this morning, what I have to say will be brief so do not worry, I will not detain you for any longer than is necessary."

"Who was that man yesterday that the Queen went to?" One of the suitors called out.

"That is what I am here to explain gentlemen."

"Then get on with it general," Theo said, "and once we are done here please tell the queen that I am expecting to see her for lunch this afternoon."

Several people around him started to mummer. Let them, they had to learn sooner or later that the queen would in fact be his wife. The general however was not amused in the slightest. "I am sorry to disappoint you Duke Theo, but the queen will not be seeing you this afternoon. In fact she will not be seeing any suitors from this point further. You see that young man who returned yesterday was on the quest with the young Queen two years ago, and over the space of the year the two began to have feelings for each other. At the end of their quest the young man stayed behind to try and help his brother. It was thought that he was dead, which was the only reason that Captain Steiner and I allowed the queen to have suitors. However, now that he is back we do not see the need for there to be any suitors and neither does the queen. So from this point further, the Queen will not be accepting any suitors. You are all given to the night to leave the castle, after that you will only be allowed back by invitation." And with that the general left the room.

Theo was just as stunned as the rest of the men in the audience chamber. What the hell had just happened?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Please read and review, once again the number of hit and reviews will determines which stories I update first.**

Zidane had to admit it, when his queen wanted too she could find quite the nice locations. Being from Lindinblum he had thought he had seen places that were about as romantic as they come. But this place was absolutely perfect. It was close to the cemetery grounds, but not close enough to be depressing, and there was a perfect view of Alexandria with the sun just slightly hovering over the city.

With Dagger leading the way they found a nice location to set their stuff down. "You Dagger," he marveled, "I am amazed that more people do not come out here. This is absolutely beautiful."

Blushing slightly the young queen lowered her face. "In truth Zidane not many people know of this particular view. And even if they did, I do not believe they could get here, this place is for royalty only."

Nodding the thief carefully laid out the blanket so the two of them could sit. Pulling the basket they got from the kitchen over he pulled out some bread and cheese and some water. After giving Dagger her plate he set himself up with some food of his own. "So Zidane," the queen mumbled between bites of food, "what were you doing the whole two years you have been gone, surely you did not spend all of them trying to get out of the Ifia Tree."

Zidane swallowed his food before he began his story. "Well, once the tree collapsed I think I was out for about two days or so. Once I awoke I started the long trek out of that place. Of course I was slowed down by the fact that I had to carry Kuja out of that place. It took me about four days just to get the hell out of there. Once I saw the sky I am not sure what happened next, I am pretty sure I just passed out because the next time I woke up was in the Black Mage Village with Mikoto standing over me."

He paused to wipe some food from the coroner of his lip before he continued. "After that I was in and out of conscious for about 6 months. Usually I was up just long enough for them to give me some food. Once I was finally conscious for a full day I began the long processes of building up my muscles again."

Reaching over he lightly ran his hand against her face. "I knew that I had to return to you no matter what my Dagger." Saying that he slowly pulled her in and pressed a light kiss against her lips. God, kissing her brought the greatest pleasure that he had ever felt.

Leaning back he continued his story. "Anyway, after I was recovered enough I started to try and figure out how to get back to you. Of course before I could do that I had to help the genomes set up their new life in with the Black Mages. Then there was the trouble of trying to get through the minning tunnel to Lindinblum seeing as how I did not have an airship. I got to Lindinblum no more than one month ago, and then I figured I would wait to surprise you on your birthday. By the way I hoped that you liked your present."

His little queen surprised him when she reached over and pulled him in for a kiss. "I could never have wished for anything better my thief."

Smiling Zidane pushed the hair out of her face. "So now it is your turn Dagger. What have you been up too these past two years?"

Garnet leaned back on her heels and waved her hand at the castle and city. "Being a queen mostly, you will soon discover just how tough it is to actually rule a kingdom. I kept sending search parties after you, but after two weeks General Beatrix told me there was little to no hope of ever finding you. I was absolutely crushed inside. I locked myself in my room for a week and refused to come out. Of course that was extremely childish and poor Steiner and Beatix went through hell that week trying to deal with me and a kingdom at the same time.

"So after the week I spent in solitude I realized this is not the way you would want me to continue. You always said to live my life for myself. So I picked myself up and finally stepped up to my duties. Everything was going good until six months ago; apparently that was when everyone decided it was time for me to find a king for the land. I held them off as best as I could, but the people were starting to become impatient. Beatix told me that by 18th birthday I had to pick one suitor I would start to court seriously, luckily you came around, so Zidane, will you be the one to court me seriously."

Placing his hands on her shoulders he pulled Dagger to him and kissed her lips with a passion he had never felt before. "Of course I will Dagger. You did not even have to ask."

Crushing his lips to hers once again he held her too him tightly. Kissing her made him loose all sense of self. He was completely lost in the feel of her lips, of her hands in his hair. Pushing into her harder he carefully laid her back on the grass. He would not trade this moment for anything else in the world.

Little to the two young lovers knowledge, a man in a black hood was watching from the bushes. Once he saw the kiss he carefully slipped away, he had the information that he needed.

Making his way back to the castle he slipped in past the guards and everyone else to make his way to his destination. Upon arriving at a guest room he knocked twice, then once, then twice more. The door shot open and a hand grabbed him and threw him into the room.

To say that Duke Theo was upset by the current change of events would be the understatement of the year. He was absolutely livid. So man had just shown up out of the blue that the queen had knowledge of, and suddenly he was asked to leave the castle. This was not proper and he would make sure that this relationship did not go anywhere. He would be the next king of Alexandria.

Hearing two knocks on his door he went still. One more. Then two more knocks. Throwing open the door he pulled his servant into his room. "What the hell has taken you so long?!"

His servant coward on the floor. "I am deeply sorry sir, but it took longer to find the two than I thought."

"Well out with it man. What is going on between the two?"

"Sir I am afraid that it is as bad as you had surmised. I found the queen an the young man in a secluded garden, the two of them were kissing my lord."

Theo roughly punched the wall. "Damn it."

Shaking his hand the Duke paced around the room. Finally after two passes around his room he stopped. "I want you to go into the town. Find the group that he acted with yesterday; find out anything you can about him. If there is anything I can use to discredit him I want it."

Bowing politely the servant quietly left the room. _Damn it, I was so close but it does not matter. You will be mine my young queen, and the throne along with you._

Arm in arm the thief and the young queen returned to the castle around sun down. They had spent the whole day together. After their picnic they walked around the outskirts of the city, then into the city, with Dagger wearing a cloak of course.

After their adventure, and numerous storytellings', they ended up back at the castle front gates. By then Beatrix had already prepared a room for Zidane, which was only two doors down the hall from the queen's room. Standing in his room the thief could not believe what he was seeing. This was a guest room? It was almost the size of Garnets room. Deciding the two were not ready for sleep just yet, the pulled up to the table that was situated in the middle of Zidanes room.

"So what would you like to do tomorrow my queen?"

Garnet leaned back in her chair. "Honestly Zidane, I am not sure how much I am going to be able to see you tomorrow. I did not do anything yesterday because it was my birthday, and today I spent with you. I just know that I am going to have a lot of work waiting for me tomorrow as soon as I wake."

"Perhaps lunch or dinner then? Seeing as how I am 'courting' you, I would dearly love to see you."

Hiding her smile behind her hand she giggled slightly. "That sounded absolutely nothing like you Zidane, if I wanted to hear that kind of talk I would bring back one of my previous suitors and listen to them talk about my beauty for an hour."

Just as Zidane was about to make a witty comment Steiner came into his room. "My Queen, I hate to interrupt you two, but I am afraid I must insist that you go to bed. You will have a long day tomorrow, and I am sure that you can see Master Zidane tomorrow."

With a slight nod Dagger stood. "You are right Steiner," she turned back to Zidane, "Will you accompany me back to my room Zidane?"

Zidane stood, took her hand and kissed the back of it. "I would be honored my queen to escort you to your room."

Taking her hand the two left Zidanes room and made the short trip down to her room with Steiner in tow. Once they reached the door he gently cupped her face with his hands and kissed her. "Before I let you go Dagger, there is just one thing that I would like to ask."

"You can ask me anything Zidane, you know that."

"Why do you care for me?"

"Because you are you Zidane. You will never change for anyone and I would not want you too. You care for people you have never met, and you are one of the bravest men I have ever met."

"Then I will try my hardest to live up to the expectation that you have of me. Good night Dagger, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

Garnet leaned in and kissed his again. "Likewise Zidane. Sleep well."

Once her door was shut Zidane turned around and faced Steiner. "So you aren't going to kill me are you Rusty?"

Steiner grunted at the name. "No, the Queen has fallen for you deeply. These past two years while you have been away have been the worst years of the queen's life."

"Aww Rusty, I thought you hated me?"

"At first perhaps I did. But the Queen cares for you, and you care for her. True I would have liked her to find a Duke or Prince, but you are the man she has chosen and I respect that. More to the point, during our trip my hatred for you went away and was later replaced by respect. But be fore warned Zidane, if you harm the queen either physically or emotionally, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"You have nothing to worry about Steiner. I would rather kill myself than harm Dagger in any way."

Leaving Steiner in the hallway Zidane went back to his room and crawled into his bed. This had been without a doubt the best day of his life. While lying there he made a promise to himself. He would never allow any harm to befall Garnet; no matter the cost he would protect her always.

**Well this is the end of Chapter 2. I know that this story is starting off kinda slow, but i promise that it will pick up. Once again i apperciate any reviews that you give.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long wait between uploads. Summers jobs suck. Anyway please review, and let me know what you think. I can be comments suggestions or corrections, feel free. I know that the story is kinda slow, but it will pick up pace after this chapter.**

**Chapter 3**

After two days of pacing back and forth in his hotel room, Duke Theo had begun to worry that he had actually lost the throne to that little monkey. Nothing could really be brought up to attack the man with other than the fact that he was a commoner. He did find out that the young man had a questionable past, but when he brought that up with the General, she promptly kicked him out again.

She then proceeded to tell him that she and the queen already knew of his past and that they were both fine with it. She said that he had changed and was no longer the arrogant young thief that he once was. Also he had earned the respect of both the royalty in Lindinblum and Burmica. How the hell had he done that?

He had also attempted to bring up the fact that he was not of royal blood. In retaliation to that, they had declared that he was part of the royal family from a remote village on the Outer Continent. No one really knew where this village was, but once again Regent Cid had agreed with the decree, and King Puck from Burmica had also agreed to it.

In a last ditch attempt he had challenged the young man to a duel. That had been a complete mistake, and he had been humiliated because of it. It was not a fight; the young man defeated him in less than a minute into their duel. Now he was reduced to this, pacing back and forth in his room trying to think another way to discredit the man who was now spending every waking moment with his future wife.

Perhaps he was wrong and this young man and the queen had in fact gone on a journey together.

No he could not think like that. It was impossible from two people of their age to accomplish what was said that they had. There is no way they could have seen the entire world, let alone a completely separate world if you were to believe all the rumors.

Continuing on his pacing he tried to come up with another way to get rid of his competition.

"It isn't going to work. Zidane is far too strong and now he is far too influential for you to defeat."

Theo spun and looked around his room. Strange. There was no one in his room. Shaking his head he continued his brooding.

"Hahaha. You still do not believe me. But perhaps I could help you defeat him?"

This time Theo knew he was not imagining things. There was someone talking to him. "Alright, whoever the hell is in here I want you to come out immediately and face me like a man."

"Hahahaa. No no no no my dear Duke. You see I have a particular history with this young man. You might say that the two of us have unfinished business. So you see, it is in both of our best interest to get him away from this city and his pretty little queen wouldn't you agree?"

Theo thought about this for a moment. It was true that he was getting nowhere in discrediting this little thief who stole his wife from him. But the idea of trusting a complete stranger was against his better judgment. However, he had no other choice at the moment. "Very well stranger, you have a deal. Under two conditions however; one I need to see your face, and two I want to know the details of your plan."

"Well unfortunately I cannot fulfill either of those two requirements. You cannot see my face, and the less that you know about my plan the better it will be for you."

Theo realized that he was against a wall. He had no way out of this. "Very well you have a deal. Now tell me what you want me to do?"

He voice chuckled. "In a few days something bad will happen. Zidane will be forced away, and that will be your time to act. How you act is completely up too you of course, all I care about is that Zidane returns to me."

And with that the voice disappeared.

For Garnet the past few days were a combination of the greatest days of her life, and also some of the worst days. The best times in the day were found when she could spend time with Zidane. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to spend time with the man she loved without having to worry about where they were going to sleep, or whether or not they would be attacked in the middle of the night by a monster.

The worst times of the days were found when Duke Theo made his daily attempt to discredit Zidane. He had tried everything. Most of his attempts were easy to counter, but when he brought up the fact that Zidane was not of royal blood, Garnet had to do some really quick thinking. She could still see the look of shock on the Duke's face when she said that he was of royal family from the outer continent. To her luck and surprise both King Puck and Uncle Cid caught onto her idea quickly and each sent her their consent that Zidane was on royal blood and was able to court her.

His last, and in Garnet's mind his funniest, attempt to discredit him was when the stupid Duke challenged Zidane to a duel. The fight did not last long, and to humiliation of the Duke he was defeated soundly in front of half the nobles of Alexandria. She now held high hopes that perhaps the Duke would just give up and leave, but she was told that he was still staying in Alexandria.

She had apologized profusely to Zidane, but he would not hear it. He told her that he would fight anyone, or play any game if it meant that he could stay with her. That bit had made her face flush and her heart beat wild, of course it did not help that he said it in public, which had only made her blush harder.

For the longest time she did not believe that happiness could happen to a princess, and now a queen. She never really believed in the fairy tales where the knight would come in and sweep the princess off her feet then ride off into the sunset. But now, here with Zidane she found that she could believe in those stories. But for some reason she had a feeling that something very bad was about to happen to both him and her.

**Well that is chapter 3. I know it was short but I felt the need to get something up. Once again please review. I promise things will start to speed up in the story soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, this was a quick update on this story, unfortunately I have training coming up here, so my updates maybe a little slower than this one in the next month or so. But I will keep at it. Please read and review, your reviews are really helpful.**

**Chapter 4**

"So then, are you ready to fulfill your part of the deal?"

Theo immediately stood up and faced the shadow that formed in his room. "Yes," he answered calmly, "what is it that you want me to do?"

Suddenly a small metal object flew out of the shadow and hit him square in the chest. Doubling over in pain he inspected the small object closely. It was nothing more than a small silver ring. "What the hell is this?" He yelled in pain to the shadow.

"Quite simply, I want you to bring that into the castle when you go there today. Once inside I will do the rest."

Theo stood tall and faced the shadow once again. "Alright no more games. I want to know what you are going to do or I am not helping you."

For a moment there was silence. Perhaps he had pushed it too far. But then the eerie voice came back. "I am going to take Zidane away from this place. He does not belong here, none of his kind do. That is all you need to know." And with that the voice was gone.

Sliding the ring onto his finger, the Duke prepared for his trip to the castle. He had always said that he would sell his soul to get the throne of Alexandria, and he had a feeling that he just did.

* * *

The light coming through the window awoke Zidane from his deep sleep. Stretching out he was debating on whether or not to leave the comfort of his bed. He had never slept in a bed that was more comfortable than the one he was in right now. No he took that back. The best night sleep he ever had was when Dagger slept right next to him after he came back.

Jumping out of bed he stretched one more time raising his hands above his head and his tail pointing straight out. Walking over to the balcony he looked out over the city and saw that the sun was in fact high in the sky. _This is almost a perfect start to the day, but damn I have not slept this long in a long time._ So why did he feel as if something bad was going to happen today. And what was this presence he kept on feeling in the back of his mind.

_Knock Knock Knock_

"Sir Zidane are you awake sir."

"Yeah I'm awake, come on in and tell me what's up."

The door opened slowly and a knight of Pluto walked into his room. "Sir I have been asked by the Queen to escort you to the assembly hall this morning for breakfast then a meeting afterword."

Zidane walked over to his closet and got out fairly nice looking set of cloths. Even though the cloths were nice looking he still doubted that he would ever get use to wearing these things. He longed for the day when he could put his old cloths back on and go on an adventure again with Dagger, but he knew that if they were going to live at the castle it was unlikely they would be able to go on an adventure again anytime soon.

"So what is this meeting about that Garnet is bringing me too?" He asked the young knight.

"I believe it is just a meeting with the local Nobles who are in the city today Sir."

Zidane heaved out a sigh of relief. As long as it did not take too long to finish he would be fine. Once he was dressed he turned to the knight. "Alrighty, let's go and get this over with eh?"

The knight bowed to him. Damn that is going to take awhile to get use too. "Yes sir please come this way with me."

Once they reached the audience hall the knight introduced Zidane to the gathering of nobles and stepped aside for him. Zidane immediately saw Dagger and noticed that there was an open seat next to her. Deciding that the seat was for him he began the march towards it. On his way there he took note of some of the nobles that were in the meeting. Most he did not know, but there were a couple that he did. Unfortunately Duke Theo was still in attendance. _Damn, doesn't' that guy know when he is not wanted somewhere._

Reaching his seat next to Dagger he sat down. But now before he made a polite bow to her and kissed her hand much to the anger of the Duke. "Well sir," the Duke said over the crowd, "I am glad to see that you found the time to join us today."

Zidane straightened up in his seat. Hell if he wanted to play that game, Zidane could play too. "Duke Theo, I am surprised that you are here, I would have thought that you would have gone to your home by now with a bruised ego." Okay maybe he did not have as good as a hold on his anger than he thought.

"Zidane," his queen said under her breath, "please try not to get too riled up here. They are still our guest here at the castle."

"Sorry Garnet," Zidane whispered back, "perhaps you will let me make it up to you tonight?"

Garnet hid her blush by looking down. "My Queen," General Beatrix said, "perhaps we can get on with the business that is at hand today?"

Garnet nodded to the general. "Yes very well Beatrix. Now the reason that I have called you all here is because I believe that as nobles we should strive to work together instead of against each other for the betterment of the people."

"HAHAHAHAHA, you will not need to worry about that Queen Garnet. Your people will not be alive long enough to worry about."

Zidane felt every hair on his body rise on end, he knew that voice. There was no way that he could be here. Garnet stood up angrily from her seat. "I demand that whoever said that to stand up and show himself right this instant."

"HAHAHA, oh my dear queen you have forgotten about me already? After you all left me for dead I assumed that you would all remember my voice. But very well queen, if you want to see me than I will show myself."

Light itself seemed to bend in the room near the door and black smoke started to gather in it. Soon the blackness started to form together and take shape. Soon the legs, torso, and arms were formed together. A red light started to emerge from the center of its chest and once the head formed Garnet fell back into her seat.

It was Garland!


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay first and foremost I would like to apologize for the extremely long wait in-between chapters. I had training to go through then move-in at college to deal with. Once again I do not own FF9.**

Zidane was up in an instant. Jumping up on the table he instinctively reached for his trusty daggers. Reaching under his robe he prepared to bring out his daggers, but when his hand did not grab hold of a hilt he felt a wave of nausea come over him. _Damn I have gotten way to soft, I left my daggers in my room. Shit now what am I going to do?_ Steiner and Beatrix both drew their weapons and placed themselves between the queen and Garland.

Still even though he was unarmed he braced himself, ready to charge at Garland at a moment's notice. "What the hell are you doing here Garland? I thought you were dead?"

Garland simply shook his head. "My dear Zidane, you should know by now that simply pushing me over a cliff would not be enough to kill me. I could not have led you to Kuja had I been dead."

By now Dagger had overcome her shook of seeing one of Gaia's deadliest enemies appearing before her and stood to confront the old man. "Tell us what it is you want Garland, or please leave this place."

"Why my queen. What I want is simple, the restoration of Terra."

Zidane was stunned. _Terra was destroyed by Kuja wasn't it?_ "The restoration is impossible now Garland. The Ifia tree has been destroyed, and plus Terra was destroyed by Kuja just before we left Terra."

The old man just shook his head. "How naive of you Zidane. What Kuja destroyed was merely the surface of what is Terra. The core still lives and so do the souls of Terra. As long as they are still alive I will see to it that Terra's plan is completed." Garland calmly explained.

"Well then we will just have to go back there and destroy the core wont we." Zidane taunted the old man.

"Why have you come here Garland," Garnet interjected, "surely you did not come to tell us about our doom and then simply leave?"

Garland once again shook his head. "You are quite right Queen. I did not come to tell you of your doom. I came to retrieve something that belongs to Terra actually. Something I need in order for Terra's plan to succeed."

"Whatever it is Garland," Zidane yelled, "you ain't getting it. You hear me." And with that he ran full speed at Garland ready to attack him. Reaching the end of the table Zidane pushed off and leapt into the air. All of his years as a thief had made him quite agile and he was going to show this bastard just how strong he truly is.

Just as Zidane was about to hit him, Garland simply held up his hand and froze Zidane in mid-air. "You are foolish Zidane. In order for Terra's plan to come to its completion, I need an Angle of Death. I need you to fight for me."

Zidane could have laughed out loud. Garland wanted him to fight as his Angel of Death. Ha, fat chance of that ever happening. "Like hell I would ever join you Garland."

"You forget who created you Zidane. I gave you life, and not only can I take that away from you, but I can make you into a blank slate."

"NNNOOOOOOO," he could hear Garnet yell from far away.

The thief could slowly feel his conscious slip away, just like it had back on Terra. _Garnet,_ he tried to say out loud but his lips refused to move, _I do not know if you can hear me, but I love you. I am sorry._ And with that his world went completely black.

* * *

Garnet tried to run to Zidane, but she was far too slow. Garland already had Zidane under his spell. With the incantation complete Garland lowered his hand and Zidane fell to the floor. But the thief quickly rose to his feet. "Zidane," she called out timidly, not sure if he could still hear her.

When he turned around she felt her world freeze. His eyes once so full of life were now nothing more than blank slates. No emotion in them at all. "You see my dear Queen," Garland called out from behind Zidane, "the Gnomes will always follow my lead, Kuja was just simply doing his part. It was my plan all along to see how powerful I could get Zidane. I admit that not everything went according to plan, but now he is stronger than ever."

"Sir Zidane," Steiner suddenly appeared in front of her. "You must fight this Sir Zidane. You have beaten this before and you can do it again. Please Sir for the Queen you must fight this."

"It will not work this time my good knight. You see I had a chance to learn how Zidane broke out of my control and I can now make sure that he will never do so again."

Garnet finally found her voice again. "You are wrong Garland. Zidane is stronger than you. He can fight you."

"Well then, lets test his will than shall we. Zidane, kill the three of them." Garland said with no emotion in his voice.

Zidane held up his hand, and somehow a sword began to form in his hand. Without another word her lover ran towards Steiner. "Please Sir Zidane," Steiner tried to reason with him as he blocked sword thrust, "please you must fight him."

But his words fell on death ears as Zidane found an opening and calmly ran his sword through Steiner's gut. ""Steiner, NOOOOO," Beatrix yelled joining the fight.

"However Zidane proved to be much too fast for the general. Pivoting he spun around her attack and calmly counterattacked slashing his sword across the generals torso. Once the two warriors were down her lover turned his attention on her.

She had never been so scared in her entire life. Zidanes once cheerful eyes were now dead. "Zidane, please come back to me." She pleaded with him.

"How many times do I have to tell you? You cannot reach him. He is mine now. Zidane, kill her now."

Zidane raised his sword and began a slow walk towards her. Even though she was scared out of her mind she held her ground. "Zidane," she called out to him, hoping that he was still somewhere inside of the man in front of her, "Zidane I know that you are in there. Please stop this and come out."

She could not help the flow of tears that started to pour from her eyes. Very slowly the once thief reached out and wrapped his hand around her neck. She did not move from her spot. She was far too scared to move.

Suddenly though she saw a glimmer of hope. His eyes started to get some emotion back into their depths. Her courage suddenly flared up again inside of her. He would not kill her. He was still Zidane, and he needed her now perhaps more than ever before. "Zidane," she choked out, "Zidane…I lo…I love you."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, his grip instantly loosened. Taking in a few much needed breaths she watched his eyes fight back and forth. He was still in there, and better yet he was trying to take back control. "Zidane, that's it fight him, come on you can do-"the back of Garlands hand suddenly hitting her across her face caused her to hit the floor.

"Ah, so I see that I still have some work to do on this one. Thank you for showing me this. Now Zidane, let us leave this place."

From her position on the floor she could see Garland turned back towards the door and Zidane turned like an obedient servant on his master's heels. She was losing him. When he reached the spot that he had entered the room from he turned back to the stunned nobles. "Oh and by the way, Duke Theo I must thank you for letting me into the castle. Why if it wasn't for you I would never had been able to retrieve my prized Gnome."

All eyes immediately shot to the stunned Duke who turned white as a ghost. However Garnet's eyes never left Zidanes. Garland raised his hand and the two were suddenly surrounded in a bright blue light. It was a transportation spell.

Just as the two started to disappear she saw his lips move only slightly. He was trying to tell her something. As she watched his lips moved again she knew exactly what he was saying.

_I love you._

And then the two were gone.

**Well there was chapter 5, sorry if this chapter was not extremely well written, but I was in a rush to get something out. Once again please review this chapter I need some feedback from you readers. See ya in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Once again before we begin this chapter I want to apologize for the long wait here. I came down with and extremely bad case of the flu a couple of weeks back and I am just now starting to truly get over it. Also midterms were last week and that really cut into my writing time. Please enjoy this chapter. Also i changed the rating of this story, but just to let you know if might go back up again if i feel like adding in some things.  
**

**Chapter 6**

For the longest time after the two had left, the Queen of Alexandria, Garnet Til Alexandros XVII could do nothing but sit on the floor. There were a thousand questions running through her head. What had just happened? How was Garland still alive? What were his plans? Why did he take Zidane away from her?

The last question caused a new river of tears to pour down from her eyes. The love of her life was once again taken from her and once again she had done nothing to prevent him from leaving her.

After several minutes, or it might have even been days the queen did not know, someone gently touched her shoulder. Looking to see who had disrupted her thoughts she saw the young blonde Captain Lizzy, the assistant commander to General Beatrix. Oh god Beatrix? Steiner? Were they alright? "Is everyone alright Captain?"

The young queen did not know how she managed to keep her voice so calm. But she knew that at this moment she had to be strong. She could not let these lecherous nobles see her in a moment of weakness.

The captain nodded her head. "The General and Captain Steiner ate both hurt fairly bad my queen. However their injuries are not life threatening."

Nodding to the captain she picked up her hand signaling that she wanted the captain's help in getting up.

Once on her feet she turned to address the assembled nobles. But in truth her eyes had sought out only one person. She was not deaf; she had heard exactly what Garland had said before he vanished with her love. Duke Theo was still sitting down with most of the nobles. His face was completely white.

"Duke Theo," she said icily, "would you mind telling me and everyone else here what Garland meant when he said that he had you to thank for getting him inside the castle walls?"

If it was possible his face had turned even whiter for a second. But then he composed himself very quickly. "I am sorry my queen, but I have no idea what you, or he is talking about. Perhaps you should lie down? This must have been a terrible ordeal for you."

Oh he was sly. If it hadn't been for that slight hesitation and the first look on his face she might have actually believed him. However, with nothing else on him she could not legally hold him until they had proof of what Garland had said. "Still my dear Duke. This is way too important, so you understand why we cannot let you leave here."

With a nod, two of the castle guards came up and roughly grabbed the young Duke. "What is the meaning of this your Highness. You have no proof on me what so ever."

"Very true my dear Duke. However as I explained just a moment ago, we cannot let something like this go unpunished. Take him away now."

As the two guards led the screaming Duke away Garnet turned her back on the assembled nobles. The tears were threatening to fall again, and she could not afford to let the nobles see her in such a week state. Luckily Captain Lizzy saw through what was troubling the young queen. Coming up to her the captain draped her arm around her shoulders. "My queen. If you need you can leave now. I will send the nobles away. Please my lady."

Nodding to the captain the queen had to keep herself from running out of the room. Reaching the doors she heard the captain address the nobles. "My Lord and Ladies. Unfortuently the queen is not feeling well at the moment if you could please…"

The captain's voice was cut off as the door shut. As soon as the queen was alone she hiked up her dress and ran through the castle walls towards her room. As she came down the hallway though, she pulled up short. _His _was just before hers.

Turning she slammed through his door. His room was amazingly clean, although the maids were more than likely in during the meeting. Running towards his bed she threw herself upon it. Mercifully the sheets still had the lingering scent of him.

Wrapping herself up in his blankets she breathed deep the smell of him. Just the smell of him brought back so many carefree and fun memories. Loving memories. Feeling the sheet go warm near her face she looked down to see a wet spot on it. She was crying. This time she did not try and stop the tears from falling.

With a wail she buried her face in his sheets again.

Beatrix woke up with a start. Placing her hand on her chest she quickly took in her surroundings. A white curtain was surrounding the place that she was laying, but she knew this room well. She was in the hospital wing of the castle. Quickly the curtain near her was wiped to the side and Captain Lizzy was standing in front of her. "Praise the Eidolons, you are alright General." The young captain said breathlessly.

The general turned to her subordinate. "Captain," she said, "how long have I been resting here?"

"Not long General, nine hours at the most. Your wounds were not too life threatening."

Beatrix felt inside the robe that she was know wearing to the place where Zidane's dagger cut her deep. The skin was mostly closed up, but there was definitely the beginning of a scare forming on her stomach.

"Give me a full report," Beatix said turning her attention back to the Captain, "what the hell happened up there and what is going on now?"

The captain quickly saluted. "Yes General," the captain began, "Once that man, Garland I believe you said his name was, once he appeared something happened to Sir Zidane and he went insane. He drew his weapons and headed for the queen. He cut through you and Captain Steiner as if you were not even standing there. Next he went up to the queen and wrapped his hand around her throat. I tried to get to her but what happened next surprised me. She started to talk to him as if she was calling out to someone. Then his hand loosened and he let go of her. She was about to reach for him again when the man, Garland, stood in front of her and knocked her off to the side. Then he went up to Si Zidane and the two of them disappeared."

The general laid back and rubbed her one good eye. "What happened after the two left? Are there any leads on to how Garland was able to get in the castle undetected?"

The captain nodded. "Yes General. Right now the queen has order that Duke Theo be put under arrest until we can investigate him. And then the queen left the meeting hall."

_Duke Theo_, she thought, _he would be the type to include someone he did not know into a ridiculous plan. All to try and win the queens hand. _Sitting up quickly again she felt her head become light. Placing her hand on her forehead to steady herself she turned to the young captain again. "How is the queen at this moment?"

"Inconsolable at the moment General," the captain replied, "she has sent away all of her maids and has refused to eat anything in the last ten hours. At the moment she is curled up and sleeping on Sir Zidane's bed."

Beatrix nodded. She could understand the young queen. Sure she did not know much about Sir Zidane. But he had earned the respect of Captain Steiner, and more importantly he had earned the love of the Queen. He had to be a good man in order to accomplish one of those task let alone both. The past few days that he had spent at the castle only reaffirmed her belief that he was the right man for the queen.

Zidane truly loved the queen. And the queen without a doubt loved the young theif back just as much if not more so. The general shivered at that thought. She had seen what strong women in the past had done to get her man back. And Garnet was a strong as woman as she had ever met.

"Captain," the general said slowly getting out of the bed.

The captain immediately saluted her. "Yes General?"  
"Prepare all of the soldiers, and ready the knights of Pluto. Also have word sent out to the Kingdoms of Lindinblum and Bermaca. We are going to need all the help we can get."

The captain paused. "For what General?"

"Once the queen comes out of her state, she will want to immediately begin searching for Zidane. And if we are not fast enough, she will leave us behind and head out on her own. May the Eidolons forgive Garland once the Queen catches up to him. Because I am sure that the Queen will not."

**I know that not a whole lot happened. But please Read/Review. I really appreciate it when you guys send me your reviews. Anyway see ya all in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Queen Garnet sat at the head of the table, a large map of the mist continent laid out in front of her. Regent Cid was also at the table, as well as the Dragon Knight Freya, and the noble ambassador of Treno, Gerod. "Currently, we do not know what their purpose is," the Regent was saying, "they come out of the Marshes every night, and do slight damage to the Serpents Gate and then retreat again."

The Gnomes had been attacking Lindenblum for the past week now. Even though the Gnomes were few in number, they held amazing power, and there was little that the Lindenblum Knights could do against them.

"It is the same for Grezmo's Gotto," Freya said, "every night they come out, bloody our noises, and then retreat back into the Marshes. Every time we try to find them though, it is almost as if they disappeared into thin air."

"It has to be the Excavation site then," Garnet said drawing all eyes to her, "it makes the most sense due to the fact that it is the main route from the Outer Continent to this one."

"It also presents us with a problem," The Reagent added, "if we where to sail out from Lindinblum and head to the Outer Continent, that would leave our city open to attack. So far, Alexandria is the only one that has not been hit by the Gnomes."

"Then we will have to use the Alexandrian Navy then. From here it is only a short trip up to the Outer Continent."

"That would be possible my Queen," General Beatrix cut in, "however our Navy still has not fully recovered from the incident with Bahamut two years ago. We could send a couple of ships, but we need as many as possible to keep an eye on the waters just incase the Genomes try and attack by way of the water."

"How much does Zidane know about the scope of the land on for the Mist Continent?" Gerod asked.

"He knows perhaps more than anyone else alive. Except perhaps a map maker. But what is worse is that he knows a lot of the secret passages into and out of the castle's in both Alexandria and Lindinblum. And he also knows the layout of Burmica very well also." Steiner explained to the noble.

"Zidane would never give that kind of information up Steiner," the queen interjected.

Steiner bowed his head. "I meant no disrespect your Highness, but you saw what Garland made Zidane do. He made him attack you. Something that old Zidane would never even dream of doing before. We may have to assume that as of right now, Zidane is our enemy."

The queen fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. Now was not the time to fall apart. "I know this Steiner, but I want one thing made clear. If Zidane is ever found, he is to be subdued, but no lasting harm had better befall him."

The Reagent leaned forward on the table. "I have an idea my queen. When the Gnomes first came to Gaia, they stayed with the Black Mages right? But as to date, we have not seen any Black Mages on the field of battle. It is possible that they were either wiped out by the Gnomes, or they are hiding from them. Either way, they know more about what is going on than we do. It is vital that we try and find them, but a large army would take too long.

"But, if a small group of people go, say yourself and a few others, then you stand a better chance of not being noticed. You can get in and out without the Gnomes ever knowing that you were there."

Garnet was eager to jump at the idea, but Steiner stepped in immediately. "Out of the question. As much as I want go to the Black Mage Village and check on Master Vivi, we cannot risk our Queen going out onto the front lines and possibly end up being killed."

The Reagent held up his hands in defeat. "All I am saying is that it is an option. Also, the Queen seems to be able to control Zidane's emotion. He stopped attacking when she called out his name. Perhaps there is still part of him in there. Garland couldn't have erased everything that he once was."

That's true. Back on Terra, Garland tried to make him into a blank shell, but he fought against it and managed to maintain who he was. She stood and looked over the assembled representatives. "General Beatrix," she called.

The General immediately snapped to attention. "You lead this city while I was away two years ago. Did you not?"

The General nodded. "Yes your Majesty I did. But I would-"

"Good, then you can do so again for a short time."

"My Queen." Steiner said dropping to one knee. "I do not find this advisable. This maybe the opportunity that Garland is waiting for."

Garnet turned her eyes to the Reagent. "Uncle Cid, can you get the members of the Tantalus here soon?"

Cid smiled starting to see her plan. "Yes, most of them are already in the city. What shall I tell them?"

"Tell them that I will meet them at the Alexandrian Docks in one day time. I will take them and Steiner here with me to the Outer Continent. From there, we will search the Black Mage Village for any clues as to what is happening. General Beatrix, you will be in charge of Alexandria until my return. See to it that the Navy is finished soon, and have the troops ready for sea life. Those are my orders, please see them out."

* * *

A day later, Queen Garnet Til Alexandrios stood on the docks of Alexandria. Behind her stood the fastest ship in the land. It was named the Blue Wave. In front of the ship stood the members of the Tantalus gang, Steiner, Freya, Beatrix, and Eiko. The latter of which had of course been whining about why she couldn't come.

After several hours of Eiko's nagging, Garnet finally took her aside and explained it to her. There was one thing that Garland feared more than anything, and that was the Eidolons. One of them had to survive, but more importantly, one of them had to stay behind to keep Garland from attacking in full force. Beatrix had accepted her job for the most part. She still voiced her concern about this mission, but she no longer openly objected to it.

The Tantalus were overjoyed when they learned that she wanted to take them with her on this mission. Not only would they be able to see the world, but Zidane was their brother. They would do anything to get him back. They were glad that she was giving them this chance.

With the ship finally ready to set sail, she faced her companions. "Our mission first and foremost is to find out what has happened to the Black Mage Village, then we are going to try and find out what Garland is up too, and if all possible, save Zidane from his clutches. Is everyone in agreement with this?"

"Bwahahaha. What are we still doing here? That idiot boy could be anywhere by now."

"Zidane is our brother, whatever the problem is, we'll smack some sense back into his head, so don't you worry."

"My Queen, I will protect you in this mission. Even though I fear what we might find."

Next she turned her attention to those who would be staying behind. "Do you all understand what it is you are supposed to do?"

"Yes, My Queen, it shall be done."

"If you find that monkey, make sure to whack him good once or twice for me."

"Be careful out there. I…don't wanna be alone anymore."

Garnet went up and hugged the small girl. "Don't worry Eiko, you will never be alone again."

Steeling her resolve she boarded the ship with the members of the Tantalus and Steiner. As the ship sailed she stood on the bow looking out over the ocean. _I will find you Zidane. I promise you that. No matter where you are, or what I have to do, I will get you back again._

* * *

Garland leaned back in the chair that he was sitting in. Kuja had done a nice job when he had created this Desert Palace. It was next to inaccessible to anyone but those few who knew how to get in. It was the perfect place for him to command his troops. The door to the room opened, and a Gnome walked in. Before it reached the stairs it went down onto one knee and lowered its head. "You have news then?"

"Yes my Lord. As you predicted, the Queen has left Alexandria and is heading for the Outer Continent."

Good, one problem down. "And what about the small one. Is she with the Queen as well?"

To this the Gnome shook its head. "No sire, the small one is not with the Queen."

_Damn, so it seems that the Queen does have some brains in her head. But in the end, it will not matter._ "Is the new ship ready yet?"

Once again the Gnome shook its head. "No Sire, we are having trouble getting the engine to run properly. It cannot maintain flight for longer than a few moments before it crashes."

Garland leaned forward and rubbed his chin. "Sire," the Gnome asked still not looking up. "What shall we do about the Queen?"

A wicked smile came across his face. "She comes seeking her lover, we shall reunite them. Send out One with a handful of soldiers to the Black Mage Village. Those pesky mages have lived long enough."

The Gnome bowed once again, and then stood to carry out its orders. Garland leaned back in his chair again. _Everything is starting to come together again._

What Garland didn't know was that within the walls of the castle, a shadow lurked, watching his every move and noting every word that he said.

**Okay, first and foremost I want to apologize for the long absence. I have been working on some other stories, and this one has unfortunately been left on the back burner as it were. I will try and update more often to all of my stories, seeing as how I have a much lighter class load this semester. Please review if you want, they really help me to get the motivation to continue writing. See ya in the next chapter.**


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